OP0191-HPR SOMEONE LIKE ME: THE EFFICACY OF A PEER MENTORING INTERVENTION ON DISEASE SELF-MANAGEMENT AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE)
Authors: E. Williams, V. Ramakrishnan, L. Egede, A. Boan, T. Caldwell, C. Dismuke-Greer, J. Rose, H. Johnson, J. Oates
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2023)

<h3>Background</h3> Disease self-management indicates practical ways to deal with pain, fatigue, and stress and can include better nutrition, exercise, understanding treatment options, and better communication. Evidence-based self-management interventions designed to enhance social support and provide health education, among lupus patients, have demonstrated significant improvements in health distress, self-reported global health, and activity limitation, but African Americans and women are still disproportionately impacted by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). <h3>Objectives</h3> The purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in a new, culturally tailored peer mentoring intervention was associated with improvements in disease self-management and health related quality of life (HRQOL) among African American women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). <h3>Methods</h3> The Peer Approaches to Lupus Self-Management (PALS) study was a randomized controlled trial wherein modeling and reinforcement of disease self-management skills by peers (mentors) to other African American women with SLE (mentees) was achieved through a combination of educational and informal phone or video interactions with each other. The control condition included small support groups that met on the same schedule as peer mentoring sessions. The Lupus Quality of Life questionnaire (LUP-QOL), which incorporates the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F), was used to determine HRQOL, and the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) assessed disease self-management or an individual's knowledge, skill, and confidence for managing their health and healthcare. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to determine whether the intervention produced a greater change in these main outcomes from baseline, controlling for education, income, and age, reported. <h3>Results</h3> Of the 314 enrolled PALS participants, 138 were mentored (experimental), 132 participated in small support groups (controls), and 44 served as mentors. Although not statistically significant, there were incrementally improving trends in patient activation as the intervention progressed, among mentors and experimental participants and decreasing trends in depression and anxiety among experimental participants. Measures of social functioning (from the LUP-QOL) and coping (or lupus self-efficacy) significantly improved from baseline, among experimental participants (both p &lt; 0.05). <h3>Conclusion</h3> Our findings suggest that participation in a peer mentoring intervention led to improvements in disease self-management and HRQOL, in areas of social functioning, coping, depression, and anxiety, among African American women with SLE. Since these factors are related to disease activity and morbidity/damage, future investigations should consider ways in which this approach can augment clinical care on a larger scale. <h3>REFERENCES:</h3> NIL. <h3>Acknowledgements:</h3> NIL. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None Declared.